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LOVE SONGS 



TENNYSON 



SELECTED AND ARRANGED 



ETHEL HARRIS 



ILLUSTRATED WITH REPRODUCTIONS FROM THE WORKS 



MASTER PAINTERS 




RAND MCNALLY & COMPANY 

^„_ PUBLISHERS 

CHICAGO NEW YORK 






Tennyson's Love Poems 

Copyright, iQoy, 

By Rand, McNally & Company 

Love Songs from Tennyson 

Copyright, iqii 

By Rand, McNally & Company 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 



^" 






^CI.A303452 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Elednore ... 5 

Lady Clare lo 

From The Princess 

Part VI 14 

From The Grandmother .... . i^ 

Edward Gray .... . . . ig 

Lady Clara Vere de Vere 21 

Circumstance 24 

From Queen Mary 

Milkmaid's Song 25 

Lilian 26 

Love and Death 28 

From Maud 

Part I, XII 29 

From The Gardener's Daughter . . . . 31 
From Maud 

Part /, XVII 33 

Rosalind J5 

From The Window 

Marriage Morning 38 

From The Princess 

Part IV 39 

The Lord of Burleigh 41 

From The Window 

No Answer 45 

Madeline . 47 

From- The Lover's Telle 49 

From The Window 

No Answer 50 

From The Window 

The Answer 51 

Adeline 52 

From The Miller's Daughter 55 

From In Memoriam 

CXXVI 56 

(I) 



CONTENTS— Continued 



Page 



From Harold 

Act I, Scene II 
Mariana . 

Fatima .... 
From Harold 

Act III, Scene II . 
From Mariana in the South 
The Beggar Maid 
From Maud 

Part I, XXII 
From Locksley Hall 
From Maud 

Part II, IV . 
From The Window 

The Letter 
From Isabel 
From Queen Mary 

Act V, Scene II 
Margaret . 

From The Miller's Daughter 
From The Day-Dream 

The Arrival ■ . 
From The Day-Dream, 

The Departure 
From The Day-Dream 

The Sleeping Beauty 
From The Day-Dream 

The Revival 
From Idylls of the King 

The Song of Love and Death 
From Idylls of the King 

Song from ''The Last Tournament'' 
From The Window 

When 
From The Window 

Ay 

From Idylls of the King 

''Trust me not at all, or all in all 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



'Serene Imperial Elednore" . 
'Shy she was, and I thought her cold' 
'Roses are her cheeks, 
And a rose her mouth'' . 
'Smiling, frowning, evermore. 
Thou art perfect in Love-lore" 
'He cometh not, she said" 
'Baby lips will laugh me down: 
My latest rival brings thee rest" 
'It is the miller s daughter" . 



Page 

46 y' 
84^ 



(3) 




Frank Dicksee 



''Serene, imperial Eleanor e. 



gl:ean0r:e 



Thy dark eyes open'd not, 

Nor first reveal'd themselves to EngHsh air, 

For there is nothing here, 
Which, from the outward to the inward brought, 
Moulded thy baby thought. 
Far off from human neighborhood, 

Thou wert born, on a summer morn, 
A mile beneath the cedar-wood. 
Thy bounteous forehead was not fann'd 

With breezes from our oaken glades. 
But thou wert nursed in some delicious land 

Of lavish lights, and floating shades; 
And flattering thy childish thought 
The oriental fairy brought. 

At the moment of thy birth. 
From old well-heads of haunted rills. 
And the hearts of purple hills. 

And shadow'd coves on a sunny shore, 

The choicest wealth of all the earth, 

Jewel or shell, or starry ore. 

To deck thy cradle, Eleanore. 



(5) 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



II 

Or the yellow-banded bees, 

Thro' half -open lattices 

Coming in the scented breeze, 

Fed thee, a child, lying alone, 

With whitest honey in fairy gardens cuU'd- 
A glorious child, dreaming alone, 
In silk-soft folds, upon yielding down, 

With the hum of swarming bees 
Into dreamful slumber luU'd. 



Ill 

Who may minister to thee? 

Summer herself should minister 

To thee, with fruitage golden -rinded 
On golden salvers, or it may be. 

Youngest Autum.n, in a bower 

Grape-thicken 'd from the light, and .blinded 
With many a deep-hued bell-like flower 

Of fragrant trailers, when the air 
Sleepeth over all the heaven, 
And the crag that fronts the even, 
All along the shadowing shore. 

Crimsons over an inland mere, Eleanore! 



IV 

How may fuU-sail'd verse express, 
How may measured words adore 
The full-flowing harmony 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Of thy swan-like stateliness, 
Eleanore ? 
The luxuriant symmetry 
Of thy floating gracefulness, 
Eleanore ? 
Every turn and glance of thine, 
Every lineament divine, 

Eleanore, 
And the steady sunset glow, 
That stays upon thee? For in thee 
Is nothing sudden, nothing single; 
Like two streams of incense free 
From one censer, in one shrine, 
Thought and motion mingle, 
Mingle ever. Motions flow 
To one another, even as tho' 
They were modulated so 
To an unheard melody. 
Which hves about thee, and a sweep 

Of richest pauses, evermore 
Drawn from each other mellov/-deep 
Who may express thee, Eleanore? 



I stand before thee, Eleanore; 

I see thy beauty gradually unfold, 
Daily and hourly, more and more. 
I muse, as in a trance, the while 

Slowly, as from a cloud of gold, 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Comes out thy deep ambrosial smile. 
I muse, as in a trance, whene'er 

The languors of thy love-deep eyes 
Float on to me. I would I were 
So tranced, so rapt in ecstacies, 
To stand apart, and to adore, 
Gazing on thee for evermore, 
Serene, imperial Eleanore! 



VI 

Sometimes, with most intensity 

Gazing, I seem to see 

Thought folded over thought, smiling asleep, 

Slov/ly awaken 'd, grow so full and deep 

In thy large eyes that, overpower 'd quite, 

I cannot veil, or droop my sight, 

But am as nothing in its light. 

As tho' a star, in inmost heaven set. 

Even while we gaze on it. 

Should slowly round his orb, and slowly grow 

To a full face, there like a sun remain 

Fix'd — then as slowly fade again ^ 

And draw itself to what it was before ; 

So full, so deep, so slow. 

Thought seems to come and go 

In thy large eyes, imperial Eleanore. 



FENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



VII 

As thunder-elouds that, hung on high, 

Roof'd the world with doubt and fear, 
Floating thro' an evening atmosphere, 
Grow golden all about the sky; 
In thee all passion becomes passionless, 
Touch'd by thy spirit's mellowness, 
Losing his fire and active might 

In a silent meditation, 
Falling into a still delight. 

And luxury of contemplation. 
As waves that up a quiet cove 
Rolling slide, and lying still 
Shadow forth the banks at will, 
Or sometimes they swell and move, 
Pressing up against the land, 
Y\fith. motions of the outer sea; 
And the self-same influence 
Controlleth all the soul and sense 
Of Passion gazing upon thee. 
His bow-string slacken'd, languid Love, 
Leaning his cheek upon his hand. 
Droops both his wings, regarding thee, 
And so would languish evermore. 
Serene, imperial Eleanore. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



It was the time when lilies blow, 
And clouds are highest up in air, 

Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doe 
To give his cousin, Lady Clare. 

I trow they did not part in scorn; 

Lovers long-betroth 'd were they; 
They two will wed the morrow morn — 

God's blessing on the day! 

"He does not love me for my birth. 
Nor for my lands so broad and fair; 

He loves me for my own true worth, 
And that is well," said Lady Clare. 

In there came old Alice the nurse, 

Said, "Who was this that went from thee ? " 
"It was my cousin," said Lady Clare; 

"To-morrow he weds with me." 

"O, God be thank'd," said Alice the nurse, 
"That all comes round so just and fair! 

Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands, 
And you are Jiot the Lady Clare." 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



"Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse," 
Said Lady Clare, "that ye speak so wild?" 

"As God's above," said Alice the nurse, 
*'I speak the truth: You are my child. 

"The old Earl's daughter died at my breast; 

I speak the truth, as I live by bread! 
I buried her like my own sweet child, 

And put my child in her stead." 

"Falsely, falsely have ye done, 

O mother," she said, "if this be true, 

To keep the best man under the sun 
So many years from his due." 

"Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse, 
"But keep the secret for your life. 

And all you have will be Lord Ronald's, 
When you are man and wife." 

"If I'm a beggar bom," she said, 
"I will speak out, for I dare not lie. 

Pull off, pull off, the brooch of gold. 
And fling the diamond necklace by." 

"Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse, 

"But keep the secret all ye can." 
She said, "Not so; but I will know 

If there be any faith in man." 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



'Nay now, what faith?" said AUce the nurse; 

"The man will cleave unto his right." 
•And he shall have it," the lady replied, 

"Tho' I should die to-night." 

"Yet give one kiss to your mother dear! 

Alas, my child, I sinn'd for thee!" 
"O mother, mother, mother," she said, 

"So strange it seems to me. 

"Yet here's a kiss for my mother dear, 

My mother dear, if this be so, 
And lay your hand upon my head, 

And bless me, mother, ere I go." 

She clad herself in a russet gown, 

She was no longer Lady Clare; 
She went by dale, and she went by down, 

With a single rose in her hair. 

The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had brought 

Leapt up from where she lay, 
Dropt her head in the maiden's hand, 

And follow 'd her all the way. 



Down stept Lord Ronald from his tower: 
"O Lady Clare, you shame your worth! 

Why come you drest like a village maid. 
That are the flower of the earth?" 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 13 

"If I come drest like a village maid, 

I am but as my fortunes are; 
I am a beggar born," she said, 

"And not the Lady Clare." 

"Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald, 
"For I am yours in word and in deed. 

Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald, 
"Your riddle is hard to read." 

O, and proudly stood she up! 

Her heart within her did not fail; 
She look'd into Lord Ronald's eyes, 

And told him all her nurse's tale. 

He laugh'd a laugh of merry scorn; 

He turned and kiss'd her where she stood; 
"If you are not the heiress born, 

And I," said he, "the next in blood, — 

"If you are not the heiress born, 
And I," said he, "the lawful heir. 

We two will wed to-morrow morn, 
And you shall still be Lady Clare." 



14 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



PART VI 

Ask me no more : The moon may draw the sea ; 
The cloud may stoop from heaven and take 

the shape, 
With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape; 
But O too fond, when have I answer'd thee? 
Ask me no more. 

Ask me no more : What answer should I give ? 
I love not hollow cheek or faded eye: 
Yet, O my friend, I will not have thee die! 

Ask me no more, lest I should bid thee live; 
Ask me no more. 

Ask me no more : Thy fate and mine are seal'd ; 

I strove against the stream and all in vain; 

Let the great river take me to the main. 
No more, dear love, for at a touch I yield; 
Ask me no more. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



* * I remember a quarrel I had with your 

father, my dear, 
All for a slanderous story, that cost me many 

a tear. 
I mean your grandfather, Annie; it cost me a 

world of woe, 
Seventy years ago, my darling, seventy years 

ago. 

For Jenny, my cousin, had come to the place, 

and I knew right well 
That Jenny had tript in her time; I knew, but 

I would not tell. 
And she to be coming and slandering me, the 

base little liar! 
But the tongue is a fire, as you know, my dear, 

the tongue is a fire. 

And the parson made it his text that week, and 
he said likewise 

That a lie which is half a truth is ever the black- 
est of lies. 

That a lie which is all a lie may be met and 
fought with outright. 

But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter 
to fight. 



i6 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

And Willy had not been down to the farm for 

a week and a day; 
And all things look'd half-dead, tho' it was the 

middle of May. 
Jenny, to slander me, who knew what Jenny 

had been! 
But soiling another, Annie, will never make 

one's self clean. 

And I cried myself well-nigh blind, and all of an 

evening late 
I climb 'd to the top of the garth, and stood by 

the road at the gate. 
The moon like a rick on fire was rising over the 

dale* 
And whit, whit, whit, in the bush beside me 

chirrupt the nightingale. 

All of a sudden he stopt ; there past by the gate 

of the farm 
Willy, — he didn't see me,— and Jenny hung on 

his arm. 
Out into the road I started, and spoke I scarce 

knew how; 
Ah, there's no fool like the old one— it makes 

me angry now. 

Willy stood up like a man, and look'd the thing 

that he meant; 
Jenny, the viper, made me a mocking curtsey 

and went. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 17 

And I said, "Let us part; in a hundred years 

it'll all be the same. 
You cannot love me at all, if you love not my 

good name." 

And he tum'd, and I saw his eyes all wet, in the 

sweet moonshine: 
** Sweetheart, I love you so well that your good 

name is mine. 
And what do I care for Jane, let her speak of 

you well or ill; 
But marry me out of hand; we two shall be 

happy still." 

"Marry you, Willy!" said I, "but I needs must 

speak my mind. 
And I fear you'll Hsten to tales, be jealous and 

hard and unkind." 
But he tum'd and claspt me in his arms, and 

answer 'd, "No, love, no;" 
Seventy years ago, my darling, seventy years 

ago. 

So Willy and I were wedded. I wore a lilac 

gown ; 
And the ringers rang with a will, and he gave 

the ringers a crown * * * 




R. POETZKLBEEGER 

''Shy she zvas, and I thought her cold." 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS ig 



Sweet Emma Moreland of yonder town 
Met me walking on yonder way; 

"And have you lost your heart?" she said; 
"And are you married yet, Edward Gray? 

Sweet Emma Moreland spoke to me; 

Bitterly weeping I turn'd away: 
"Sweet Emma Moreland, love no more 

Can touch the heart of Edward Gray. 

"Ellen Adair she loved me well, 

Against her father's and mother's will; 

To-day I sat for an hour and wept 
By Ellen's grave, on the windy hill. 

"Shy she was, and I thought her cold, 
Thought her proud, and fled over the sea; 

Fill'd I was with folly and spite, 

When Ellen Adair was dying for me. 

"Cruel, cruel the words I said! 

Cruelly came they back to-day: 
'You're too slight and fickle,' I said, 

'To trouble the heart of Edward Gray.' 



20 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

"There I put my face in the grass — 
Whisper'd, 'Listen to my despair; 

I repent me of all I did; 

Speak a little, Ellen Adair!' 

"Then I took a pencil, and wrote 
On the mossy stone, as I lay, 

'Here lies the body of Ellen Adair; 
And here the heart of Edward Gray!' 

"Love may come, and love may go, 
And fly, like a bird, from tree to tree; 

But I will love no more, no more, 
Till Ellen Adair come back to me. 

"Bitterly wept I over the stone; 

Bitterly weeping I turn'd away. 
There lies the body of Ellen Adair! 

And there the heart of Edward Gray!" 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



J^Eilg (Elnxu Hittt it mtxt 

Lady Clara Vere de Vere, 

Of me you shall not win renown : 
You thought to break a country heart 

For pastime, ere you went to tov/n. 
At me you smiled, but unbeguiled 

I saw the snare, and I retired; 
The daughter of a hundred earls, 

You are not one to be desired. 

Lady Clara Vere de Vere, 

I know you proud to bear your name, 
Your pride is yet no mate for mine. 

Too proud to care from whence I came. 
Nor would I break for your sweet sake 

A heart that dotes on truer charms. 
A simple maiden in her flower 

Is worth a hundred coats-of-arms. 

Lady Clara Vere de Vere, 

Some meeker pupil you must find, 
For, were you queen of all that is, 

I could not stoop to such a mind. 
You sought to prove how I could love, 

And my disdain is my reply. 
The lion on your old stone gates 

Is not more cold to you than I. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Lady Clara Vere de Vere, 

You put strange memories in my head. 
Not thrice your branching limes have blown 

Since I beheld young Laurence dead. 
O, your sweet eyes, your low replies! 

A great enchantress you may be ; 
But there was that across his throat 

AVhich you had hardly cared to see. 

Lady Clara Vere de Vere, 

When thus he met his mother's view, 
She had the passions of her kind. 

She spake some certain truths of you. 
Indeed I heard one bitter word 

That scarce is fit for you to hear; 
Her manners had not that repose 

Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere. 

Lady Clara Vere de Vere, 

There stands a spectre in your hall; 
The guilt of blood is at your door; 

You changed a wholesome heart to gall. 
You held your course without remorse, 

To make him trust his modest worth, 
And, last, you fix'd a vacant stare, 

And slew him with your noble birth. 

Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere, 

From yon blue heavens above us bent 

The gardener Adam and his wife 
Smile at the claims of long descent. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 23 

Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 

'Tis only noble to be good. 
Kind hearts are more than coronets, 

And simple faith than Norman blood. 

I know you, Clara Vere de Vere, 

You pine among your halls and towers; 
The languid light of your proud eyes 

Is wearied of the rolling hours. 
In glowing health, with boundless wealth, 

But sickening of a vague disease, 
You know so ill to deal with tim.e. 

You needs must play such pranks as these. 

Clara, Clara Vere de Vere, 

If time be heavy on your hands. 
Are there no beggars at your gate. 

Nor any poor about your lands? 
O, teach the orphan-boy to read. 

Or teach the orphan -girl to sew, 
Pray Heaven for a human heart, 

And let the foolish yeoman go. 



24 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



QltrcutnstantB 

Two children in two neighbor villages" 
Playing mad pranks along the heathy leas ; 
Two strangers meeting at a festival; 
Two lovers whispering by an orchard wall; 
Two lives bound fast in one with golden ease ; 
Two graves grass -green beside a gray church - 

tower, 
Washed with still rains and daisy-blossomed ; 
Two children in one hamlet born and bred: 
So runs the round of life from hour to hour. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 25 



Frnm Qnttn TOcrrg 

act iii, scene v 
milkmaid's song 

Shame upon you, Robin, 

Shame upon you now! 
Kiss me would you? with my hands 

Milking the cow? 

Daisies grow again, 

Kingcups blow again, 
And you came and kiss'd me milking the cow. 



Robin came behind me, 

Kiss'd me well, I vow. 
Cuff him could I? with my hands 

Milking the cow? 

Swallows fly again. 

Cuckoos cry again. 
And you came and kiss'd me milking the cow. 

Come, Robin, Robin, 

Come and kiss me now; 
Help it can I? with my hands 

Milking the cow? 

Ringdoves coo again, 

All things woo again. 
Come behind and kiss me milking: the cow. 



26 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



yitEti 



Airy, fairy Lilian, 

Flitting, fairy Lilian, 
When I ask her if she love me. 
Claps her tiny hands above me. 

Laughing all she can; 
She'll not tell me if she love me, 

Cruel little Lilian. 



II 

When my passion seeks 

Pleasance in love-sighs, 
She, looking thro' and thro' me 
Thoroughly to undo me. 

Smiling, never speaks : 
So innocent-arch, so cunning-simple. 
From beneath her gather'd wimple 

Glancing with black-beaded eyes, 
Till the lightning laughters dimiple 

The baby-roses in her cheeks ; 

Then away she flies. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 27 



III 



Pry thee weep, May Lilian! 
Gaiety without eclipse 

Wearieth me, May Lilian : 
Thro' my very heart it thrilleth 

When from crimson-threaded lips 
Silver-treble laughter trilleth : 

Prythee weep, May Lilian! 



IV 



Praying all I can, 
If prayers will not hush thee. 

Airy Lilian, 
Like a rose-leaf I will crush thee, 

Fairy Lilian. 



28 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



What time the mighty moon was gathering Hght 
Love paced the thymy plots of Paradise, 
And all about him roll'd his lustrous eyes; 
When, turning round a cassia, full in view. 
Death, walking all alone beneath a yew. 
And talking to himself, first met his sight. 
"You must begone," said Death, "these walks 

are mine." 
Love wept and spread his sheeny vans for flight ; 
Yet ere he parted said, "This hour is thine; 
Thou art the shadow of life, and as the tree ; 
Stands in the sun and shadows all beneath, 
So in the light of great eternity 
Life eminent creates the shade of death. 
The shadow passeth when the tree shall fall, 
But I shall reign for ever over all. " 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 29 



PART I, XII 
I 

Birds in the high Hall-garden 
When twiUght was faUing, 

Maud, Maud, Maud, Maud, 
They were crying and calling. 

II 

Where was Maud? In our wood; 

And I — who else ? was with her, 
Gathering woodland HHes, 

Myriads blow together. 

Ill 

Birds in our wood sang 
Ringing thro' the valleys, 

Maud is here, here, here 
In among the lilies. 

IV 

I kiss'd her slender hand. 
She took the kiss sedately; 

Maud is not seventeen. 

But she is tall and stately. 



30 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



I to cry out on pride 

Who have won her favor! 
O, Maud were sure of Heaven 

If lowliness could save her! 

VI 

I know the way she went 
Home with her maiden posy, 

For her feet have touch 'd the meadows 
And left the daisies rosy. 

VII 

Birds in the high Hall-garden 
Were crying and calling to her, 

Where is Maud, Maud, Maud? 
One is come to woo her. 

VIII 

Look, a horse at the door, 

And little King Charley snarling! 

Go back, my lord, across the moor, 
You are not her darling. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS ji 



One arm aloft — 
Gown'd in pure white that fitted to the shape — 
Holding the bush, to fix it back, she stood, 
A single stream of all her soft brown hair 
Pour'd on one side; the shadow of the flowers 
Stole all the golden gloss, and, wavering 
Lovingly lower, trembled on her waist — 
Ah, happy shade ! — and still went wavering down, 
But, ere it touch 'd a foot that might have 

danced 
The greensward into greener circles, dipt, 
And mix'd with shadows of the common ground. 
But the full day dwelt on her brows, and sunn'd 
Her violet eyes, and all her Hebe bloom. 
And doubled his own warmth against her lips, 
And on the bounteous wave of such a breast 
As never pencil drev/. Half light, half shade. 
She stood, a sight to make an old man young. 




'Roses are her cheeks, 
And a rose her mouih. 



TENIVY SON'S LOVE SONGS 



33 



?xxxm "-KimxA 



PART I. xvn 



Go not, happy day, 

From the shining fields, 
Go not, happy day. 

Till the maiden yields. 
Rosy is the West, 

Rosy is the South, 
Roses are her cheeks. 

And a rose her mouth. 
When the happy Yes 

Falters from her lips. 
Pass and blush the news 

Over glowing ships; 
Over blowing seas, 

Over seas at rest. 
Pass the happy news, 

Blush it thro' the West; 
Till the red man dance 

By his red cedar tree. 
And the red man's babe 

Leap, beyond the sea. 
Blush from West to East, 

Blush from East to West, 



j4 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

Till the West is East, 
Blush it thro' the West. 

Rosy is the West, 
Rosy is the South, 

Roses are her cheeks, 
And a rose her mouth. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 35 



I 

My Rosalind, my Rosalind, 

My frolic falcon, with bright eyes, 

Whose free delight, from any height of rapid 

flight, 
Stoops at all game that wing the skies, 
My Rosalind, my Rosalind, 
My bright-eyed, wild-eyed falcon, whither. 
Careless both of wind and weather. 
Whither fly ye, what game spy ye, 
Up or down the streaming wind? 



II 



The quick lark's closest -caroll'd strains, 
The shadow rushing up the sea, 
The lightning flash atween the rains, 
The sunlight driving down the lea. 
The leaping stream, the very wind, 
That will not stay, upon his way. 
To stoop the cowslip to the plains, 
Is not so clear and bold and free 
As you, my falcon Rosalind. 



36 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

You care not for another's pains, 
Because you are the soul of joy, 
Bright metal all without alloy. 
Life shoots and glances thro' your veins. 
And flashes off a thousand ways, 
Thro' lips and eyes in subtle rays. 
Your hawk-eyes are keen and bright, 
Keen with triumph, watching still 
To pierce me thro' with pointed light; 
But oftentimes they flash and glitter 
Like sunshine on a dancing rill, 
And your words are seeming-bitter, 
Sharp and few, but seeming-bitter 
From excess of swift delight. 



Ill 



Come down, come home, my Rosalind, 
My gay young hawk, my Rosalind. 
Too long you keep the upper skies; 
Too long you roam and wheel at will; 
But we must hood your random eyes, 
That care not whom they kill, 
And your cheek, whose brilliant hue 
Is so sparkling-fresh to view. 
Some red heath -flower in the dew. 
Touch 'd with sunrise. We must bind 
And keep you fast, my Rosalind, 
Fast, fast, my wild-eyed Rosalind, 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS ?; 



And clip your wings, and make you love. 

When we have lured you from above, 

And that delight of frolic flight, by day or night, 

From North to South, 

We'll bind you fast in silken cords, 

And kiss away the bitter words 

From off your rosy mouth. 



38 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

MARRIAGE MORNING 

Light, SO lov/ Upon earth, 

You send a flash to the sun. 
Here is the golden close of love, 

All my wooing is done. 
O, the woods and the meadows, 

Woods where we hid from the wet, 
Stiles where we stay'd to be kind, 

Meadows in which we met ! 

Light, so low in the vale 

You flash and lighten afar, 
For this is the golden morning of love, 

And you are his morning star. 
Flash, I am coming, I come. 

By meadow and stile and wood, 
O, lighten into my eyes and my heart, 

Into my heart and my blood! 

Heart, are you great enough 

For a love that never tires ? 
O heart, are you great enough for love? 

I have heard of thorns and briers." 
Over the thorns and briers. 

Over the meadows and stiles, 
Over the world to the end of it 

Flash for a million miles. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS jq 



Frnm TlT:e ^rmt^ss 



*'0 Swallow, Swallow, flying, flying south, 
Fly to her, and fall upon her gilded eaves, 
And tell her, tell her, what I tell to thee. 

"O, tell her. Swallow, thou that knowest each. 
That bright and fierce and fickle is the South, 
And dark and true and tender is the North. 

"O Swallow, Swallow, if I could follow, and 
light 
Upon her lattice, I would pipe and trill. 
And cheep and twitter twenty million loves. 

"0, were I thou that she might take me in, 
And lay me on her bosom, and her heart 
Would rock the snowy cradle till I died! 

"Why lingereth she to clothe her heart with 
love, 
Delaying as the tender ash delays 
To clothe herself, when all the woods are green ? 

"O, tell her, Swallow, that thy brood is flown; 
Say to her, I do but wanton in the South, 
But in the North long since my nest is made. 



40 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

"O, tell her, brief is life but love is long, 
And brief the sun of summer in the North, 
And brief the moon of beauty in the South. 

"O Swallow, flying from the golden woods, 
Fly to her, and pipe and woo her, and make 

her mine, 
And tell her, tell her, that I follow thee. " 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 41 



In her ear he whispers gaily, 

"If my heart by signs can tell, 
Maiden, I have watch'd thee daily, 

And I think thou lov'st me welL" 
She replies, in accents fainter, 

"There is none I love like thee." 
He is but a landscape-painter, 

And a village maiden she. 
He to hps that fondly falter 

Presses his without reproof, 
Leads her to the village altar. 

And they leave her father's roof. 
"I can make no marriage present; 

Little can I give my wife. 
Love will make our cottage pleasant, 

And I love thee more than hfe." 
They by parks and lodges going 

See the lordly castles stand; 
Summer woods, about them blowing. 

Made a murmur in the land. 
From deep thought himself he rouses. 

Says to her that loves him well, 



42 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

"Let us see these handsome houses 

Where the wealthy nobles dwell." 
So she goes by him attended, 

Hears him lovingly converse, 
Sees whatever fair and splendid 

Lay betwixt his home and hers; 
Parks with oak and chestnut shady. 

Parks and order 'd gardens great, 
Ancient homes of lord and lady. 

Built for pleasure and for state. 
All he shows her makes him dearer; 

Evermore she seems to gaze 
On that cottage growing nearer, 

Where they twain will spend their days. 
O, but she will love him truly! 

He shall have a cheerful home; 
She will order all things duly, 

When beneath his roof they come. 
Thus her heart rejoices greatly, 

Till a gateway she discerns 
With armorial bearings stately, 

And beneath the gate she turns, 
Sees a mansion more majestic 

Than all those she saw before. 
Many a gallant gay domestic 

Bows before him at the door; 
And they speak in gentle murmur, 

When they answer to his call. 
While he treads with footstep firmer, 

Leading on from hall to hall. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 43 

And, while now she wonders blindly, 

Nor the meaning can divine, 
Proudly turns he round and kindly, 

"All of this is mine and thine." 
Here he lives in state and bounty, 

Lord of Burleigh, fair and free; 
Not a lord in all the county 

Is so great a lord as he. 
All at once the color flushes 

Her sweet face from brow to chin ; 
As it were with shame she blushes. 

And her spirit changed within. 
Then her countenance all over 

Pale again as death did prove; 
But he clasp 'd her like a lover, 

And he cheer'd her soul with love. 
So she strove against her weakness, 

Tho' at times her spirit sank, 
Shaped her heart with woman's meekness 

To all duties of her rank; 
And a gentle consort made he, 

And her gentle mind was such 
That she grew a noble lady. 

And the people loved her much. 
But a trouble weigh'd upon her. 

And perplex 'd her, night and morn, 
With the burthen of an honor 

Unto which she was not born. 
Faint she grew, and ever fainter. 

And she murmur 'd, "O, that he 



44 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

Were once more that landscape-painter 
Which did win my heart from me ! ' ' 

So she droop 'd and droop 'd before him, 
Fading slowly from his side; 

Three fair children first she bore him, 
Then before her time she died. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 45 



NO ANSWER 

The mist and the rain, the mist and the rain! 

Is it ay or no ? is it ay or no ? 
And never a gUmpse of her window pane ! 

And I may die but the grass will grow, 
And the grass will grow when I am gone, 
And the wet west wind and the world will go on. 

Ay is the song of the wedded spheres. 
No is trouble and cloud and storm, 

Ay is life for a hundred years. 

No will push me down to the worm. 

And when I am there and dead and gone. 

The wet west wind and the world will go on. 

The wind and the wet, the wind and the wet! 

Wet west wind, how you blow, you blow! 
And never a line from my lady yet! 

Is it ay or no ? is it ay or no ? 
Blow then, blow, and when I am gone, 
The wet west wind and the world may go on. 




Joseph Coomans 



'Smiling, frowning, evermore. 
Thou art perfect in love-lore. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 47 



TOariBlin^ 



Thou art not steep 'd in golden languors, 
No tranced summer calm is thine, 

Ever varying Madeline. 
Thro' light and shadow thou dost range, 
Sudden glances, sweet and strange, 

Delicious spites and darling angers, 
And airy forms of flitting change. 



II 

Smiling, frowning, evermore. 
Thou art perfect in love -lore. 
Revealings deep and clear are thine 
Of wealthy smiles; but who may know 
Whether smile or frown be fleeter? 
Whether smile or frown be sweeter. 

Who may know? 
Frowns perfect-sweet along the brow 
Light -glooming over eyes divine. 
Like little clouds sun -fringed, are thine, 

Ever varying Madeline. 
Thy smile and frown are not aloof 

From one another. 

Each to each is dearest brother; 



48 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

Hues of the silken sheeny woof 
Momently shot into each other. 

All the mystery is thine; 
Smiling, frowning, evermore, 
Thou art perfect in love -lore, 

Ever varying Madeline. 

Ill 

A subtle, sudden flame. 

By veering passion fann'd. 
About thee breaks and dances; 

When I would kiss thy hand. 
The flush of anger'd shame 

O'erflows thy calmer glances, 
And o'er black brows drops down 
A sudden -curved frown: 
But when I turn away. 
Thou, willing me to stay, 

Wooest not, nor vainly wranglest. 
But, looking fixedly the while, 

All my bounding heart entanglest 
In a golden-netted smile; 
Then in madness and in bliss, 
If my lips should dare to kiss 
Thy taper fingers amorously. 
Again thou blushest angerly; 
And o'er black brows drops down 
A sudden-curved frown. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 4q 



I did not speak; I could not speak my love. 
Love lieth deep, Love dwells not in lip -depths. 
Love wraps his wings on either side the heart, 
Constraining it with kisses close and warm. 
Absorbing all the incense of sweet thoughts 
So that they pass not to the shrine of sound. 
Else had the life of that delighted hour 
Drunk in the largeness of the utterance 
Of Love ; but how should earthly measure mete 
The heavenly-unmeasured or unlimited Love, 
Who scarce can tune his high majestic sense 
Unto the thunder-song that wheels the spheres, 
Scarce living in the ^olian harmony. 
And flowing odor of the spacious air, 
Scarce housed within the circle of this earth, 
Be cabin 'd up in words and syllables, 
Which pass with that which breathes them? 

Sooner earth 
Might go round heaven, and the strait girth 

of Time 
Inswathe the fullness of Eternity, 
Than language grasp the infinite of Love. 



50 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



NO ANSWER 

Winds are loud and you are dumb, 
Take my love, for love will come, 

Love will come but once a life. 
Winds are loud and winds will pass! 
Spring is here with leaf and grass : 

Take my love and be my wife. 
After-loves of maids and men 
Are but dainties drest again. 
Love me now, you'll love me then; 

Love can love but once a life. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 51 



Frnm Tire TOindatu 

THE ANSWER 

Two little hands that meet, 
Claspt on her seal, my sweet! 
Must I take you and break you, 
Two little hands that meet? 
I must take you, and break you, 
And loving hands must part — 
Take, take — break, break — 
Break — you may break my heart. 
Faint heart never won — 
Break, break, and all's done. 



52 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



^Mxnt 



Mystery of mysteries, 
Faintly smiling Adeline, 
Scarce of earth nor all divine, 
Nor unhappy, nor at rest. 
But beyond expression fair 
With thy floating flaxen hair; 
Thy rose -lips and full blue eyes 

Take the heart from out my breast. 
Wherefore those dim looks of thine, 
Shadowy, dreaming Adeline? 



II 

Whence that aery bloom of thine, 

Like a lily which the sun 
Looks thro' in his sad decline. 

And a rose-bush leans upon, 
Thou that faintly smilest still. 

As a Naiad in a well. 

Looking at the set of day, 
Or a phantom two hours old 

Of a maiden past away, 
Ere the placid lips be cold? 
Wherefore those faint smiles of thine, 

Spiritual Adeline? 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 53 



III 

What hope or fear or joy is thine? 
Who talketh with thee, AdeUne? 
For sure thou art not all alone. 

Do beating hearts of salient springs 
Keep measure with thine own? 
Hast thou heard the butterflies 
What they say betwixt their wings? 
Or in stillest evenings 
With what voice the violet woos 
To his heart the silver dews? 
Or when little airs arise, 
How the merry bluebell rings 
To the mosses underneath? 
Hast thou look'd upon the breath 
Of the lilies at sunrise? 
Wherefore that faint smile of thine. 
Shadowy, dreaming Adeline? 



IV 

Some honey-converse feeds thy mind, 
Some spirit of a crimson rose 
In love with thee forgets to close 
His curtains, wasting odorous sighs 
All night long on darkness blind. 
What aileth thee? whom waitest thou 
With thy soften 'd, shadow 'd brow. 
And those dew -lit eyes of thine, 
Thou faint smiler, Adeline? 



5^ TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Lovest thou the doleful wind 
When thou gazest at the skies? 
Doth the low-tongued Orient 
Wander from the side of the morn, 
Dripping with Sabsean spice 
On thy pillow, lowly bent 
With melodious airs lovelorn, 
Breathing Light against thy face, 
While his locks a-drooping twined 
Round thy neck in subtle ring 
Make a carcanet of rays. 

And ye talk together still, 
In the language wherewith Spring 

Letters cowslips on the hill? 
Hence that look and smile of thine. 
Spiritual Adeline. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 55 



Frnm TItb TOilT^r's ganglTt:er 

Love that hath us in the net, 
Can he pass, and we forget? 
Many suns arise and set; 
Many a chance the years beget; 



Love the gift is Love the debt. 

Even so. 
Love is hurt with jar and fret; 
Love is made a vague regret; 
Eyes with idle tears are wet; 
Idle habit links us yet. 
What is love? for we forget: 

Ah, no! no! 



56 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Frnm %n WSitmnxium 

CXXVI 

Love is and was my lord and king, 
And in his presence I attend 
To hear the tidings of my friend, 

Which every hour his couriers bring. 

Love is and was my king and lord, 
And will be, tho' as yet I keep 
Within the court on earth, and sleep 

En compass 'd by his faithful guard. 

And hear at times a sentinel 

Who moves about from place to place, 
And whispers to the worlds of space, 

In the deep night, that all is well. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 5; 



Frnm HntnU 

ACT I, SCENE II 

Love is come with a song and a smile, 
Welcome Love with a smile and song: 
Love can stay but a little while. 
Why cannot he stay ? They call him away ; 
Ye do him wrong, ye do him wrong; 
Love will stay for a whole life long. 




Gf. VON HOESSLIN 



He comeih not, she said." 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 39 

"Mariana in the moated grange." 

Measure for Measure. 

With blackest moss the flower-plots 

Were thickly crusted, one and all; 

The rusted nails fell from the knots 

That held the pear to the gable-wall. 
The broken sheds look'd sad and strange: 
Unlifted was the clinking latch ; 
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch 
Upon the lonely moated grange. 
She only said, "My life is dreary, 

He Cometh not," she said; 
She said, "I am aweary, aweary, 
I would that I were dead!" 

Her tears fell with the dews at even ; 

Her tears fell ere the dews were dried; 
She could not look on the sweet heaven, 

Either at morn or eventide. 
After the flitting of the bats. 

When thickest dark did trance the sky. 
She drew her casement-curtain by, 
And glanced athwart the glooming flats. 
She only said, "The night is dreary, 

He Cometh not," she said; 
She said, "I am aweary, aweary, 
I would that I were dead! " 



6o TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Upon the middle of the night, 

Waking she heard the night -fowl crow; 
The cock sung out an hour ere light ; 
From the dark fen the oxen's low 
Came to her; without hope of change, 
In sleep she seem'd to walk forlorn, 
Till cold winds woke the grey-eyed morn 
About the lonely moated grange. 
She only said, "The day is dreary. 

He Cometh not," she said; 
She said, "I am aweary, aweary, 
I would that I were dead!" 



About a stone-cast from the wall 

A sluice with blacken'd waters slept, 
And o'er it many, round and small, 

The cluster'd marish-mosses crept. 

Hard by a poplar shook alway, 

All silver-green with gnarled bark: 

For leagues no other tree did mark 

The level waste, the rounding gray. 

She only said, "My life is dreary, 

He Cometh not," she said; 
She said, "I am aweary, aweary, 
I would that I were dead!" 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 6i 



And ever when the moon was low, 

And the shrill winds were up and away, 
In the white curtain, to and fro. 

She saw the gusty shadow sway. 
But when the moon was very low. 

And wild winds bound within their cell, 
The shadow of the poplar fell 
Upon her bed, across her brow. 

She only said, "The night is dreary, 

He Cometh not," she said; 
She said, "I am aweary, aweary, 
I would that I were dead!" 



All day within the dreamy house. 

The doors upon their hinges creak'd; 
The blue fly sung in the pane ; the mouse 

Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd, 
Or from the crevice peer'd about. 
Old faces glimmer 'd thro' the doors, 
Old footsteps trod the upper floors. 
Old voices called her from without. 
She only said, "My life is dreary, 

He Cometh not," she said; 
She said, "I am aweary, aweary, 
I would that I were dead!" 



62 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



The sparrow's chirrup on the roof, 

The slow clock ticking, and the sound 
Which to the wooing wind aloof 

The poplar made, did all confound 

Her sense; but most she loathed the hour 

When the thick-moted sunbeam lay 

Athwart the chambers, and the day 

Was sloping toward his western bower. 

Then, said she, "I am very dreary, 

He will not come," she said; 
She wept, "I am aweary, aweary, 
O God. that I were dead!" 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 63 



Fa:tima 

O Love, Love, Love! O withering might! 

sun, that from thy noonday height 
Shudderest when I strain my sight, 
Throbbing thro' all thy heat and light, 

Lo, falling from my constant mind, 
Lo, parch'd and wither'd, deaf and blind, 
I whirl like leaves in roaring wind. 

Last night I wasted hateful hours 
Below the city's eastern towers; 

1 thirsted for the brooks, the showers; 
I roll'd among the tender flowers; 

I crush'd them on my breast, my mouth; 
I look'd athwart the burning drouth 
Of that long desert to the south. 

Last night, when some one spoke his name. 
From my swift blood that went and came 
A thousand little shafts of flame 
Were shiver 'd in my narrow frame. 
O Love, O fire! once he drew 
With one long kiss my whole soul thro* 
My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew. 



64 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

Before he mounts the hill, I know- 
He Cometh quickly: From below- 
Sweet gales, as from deep gardens, blow 
Before him, striking on my brow. 
In my dry brain my spirit soon, 
Down -deepening from swoon to swoon, 
Faints like a dazzled morning moon. 

The wind sounds like a silver wire. 
And from beyond the noon a fire 
Is pour'd upon the hills, and nigher 
The skies stoop down in their desire; 
And, isled in sudden seas of hght, 
My heart, pierced thro' with fierce deUght, 
Bursts into blossom in his sight. 

My whole soul waiting silently, 

All naked in a sultry sky. 

Droops blinded with his shining eye; 

I will possess him or will die. 

I will grow round him in his place, 
Grow, live, die looking on his face, 
Die, dying, clasp 'd in his embrace. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 63 



From Harniri 

ACT III, SCENE II 

Two young lovers in winter weather, 

None to guide them, 
Walk'd at night on the misty heather; 
Night, as black as a raven's feather; 
Both were lost and found together, 

None beside them. 



Lost, lost, the light of day, 



"I am beside thee." 
Lost, lost, we have lost the w^ay. 

"Love, I will guide thee." 
Whither, O whither? into the river. 
Where we two may be lost together, 
And lost for ever? "O, never! O, never! 
Tho' we be lost and be found together. 



66 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Frrtm mUnxxnnu in tte Sttutlr 

With one black shadow at its feet, 

The house thro' all the level shines, 
Close -latticed to the brooding heat, 

And silent in its dusty vines: 
A faint-blue ridge upon the right, 
An empty river-bed before, 
And shallows on a distant shore, 
In glaring sand and inlets bright. 
But "Ave Mary," made she moan, 
And "Ave Mary," night and morn, 
And "Ah," she sang, "to be all alone, 
To live forgotten, and love forlorn." 

She, as her carol sadder grew, 

From brow and bosom slowly down 
Thro' rosy taper fingers drew 

Her streaming curls of deepest brown 
To left and right, and made appear 
Still-lighted in a secret shrine 
Her melancholy eyes divine, 
The home of woe without a tear. 
And "Ave Mary," v/as her moan, 

" Madonna > sad is night and morn," 
And "Ah," she sang, "to be all alone, 
To live forgotten, and love forlorn." 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 67 

Till all the crimson changed, and past 

Into deep orange o'er the sea, 
Low on her knees herself she cast. 

Before Our Lady murmur'd she; 
Complaining, "Mother, give me grace 
To help me of my weary load." 
And on the liquid mirror glow'd 
The clear perfection of her face. 

"Is this the form," she made her moan, 

"That won his praises night and morn?" 
And "Ah," she said, "but I wake alone, 
I sleep forgotten, I wake forlorn." 



68 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Her arms across her breast she laid; 

She was more fair than words can say; 
Bare-footed came the beggar maid 

Before the king Cophetua. 
In robe and crown the king stept down, 

To meet and greet her on her way ; 
"It is no wonder," said the lords, 

"She is more beautiful than day." 



As shines the moon in clouded skies, 

She in her poor attire was seen; 
One praised her ankles, one her eyes, 

One her dark hair and lovesome mien. 
So sweet a face, such angel grace. 

In all that land had never been. 
Cophetua sware a royal oath: 

"This beggar maid shall be my queen!" 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 69 



PART I, XXII 

I said to the lily, "There is but one, 

With whom she has heart to be gay. 
When will the dancers leave her alone? 

She is weary of dance and play." 
Now half to the setting moon are gone, 

And half to the rising day ; 
Low on the sand and loud on the stone 

The last wheel echoes away. 

I said to the rose, "The brief night goes 

In babble and revel and wine. 
O young lord-lover, what sighs are those, 

For one that will never be thine ? 
But mine, but mine," so I swear to the rose, 

"For ever and ever, mine." 

And the soul of the rose went into my blood, 

As the music clash'd in the hall; 
And long by the garden lake I stood, 

For I heard your rivulet fall 
From the lake to the meadow and on to the wood, 

Our wood, that is dearer than all; 



yo TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



From the meadow your walks have left so sweet 
That whenever a March-wind sighs 

He sets the jewel-print of your feet 
In violets blue as your eyes, 

To the woody hollows in which we meet 
And the valleys of Paradise. 



The slender acacia would not shake 

One long milk-bloom on the tree; 
The white lake-blossom fell into the lake 

As the pimpernel dozed on the lea ; 
But the rose was awake all night for your sake, 

Knowing your promise to me; 
The lilies and roses were all awake, 

They sigh'd for the dawn and thee. 



Queen rose of the rosebtid garden of girls. 
Come hither, the dances are done, 

In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls. 
Queen lily and rose in one ; 

Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, 
To the flowers, and be their sun. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 71 



There has fallen a splendid tear 

From the passion-flower at the gate. 

She is coming, my dove, my dear; 
She is coming, my life, my fate. 

The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;' 
And the white rose weeps, "She is late;" 
The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;" 
And the lily whispers, "I wait." 



She is coming, my own, my sweet; 

Were it ever so airy a tread, 
My heart would hear her and beat, 

Were it earth in an earthy bed; 
My dust would hear her and beat. 

Had I lain for a century dead, 
Would start and tremble under her feet 

And blossom in purple and red. 




31 \X \ nl.KUAUT 



Baby lips will laugh me down: 
My latest rival brings thee rest." 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS yj 



From I^orkslBg Hall 

In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the 

robin's breast; 
In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself 

another crest; 

In the spring a livelier iris changes on the 

burnish 'd dove; 
In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns 

to thoughts of love. 

Then her cheek was pale and thinner than 

should be for one so young, 
And her eyes on all my motions with a mute 

observance hung. 

And I said, "My cousin Amy, speak, and speak 

the truth to me, 
Trust me, cousin, all the current of my being 

sets to thee." 

On her pallid cheek and forehead came a color 

and a light, 
As I have seen the rosy red flushing in the 

northern night. 

And she turn'd — her bosom shaken with a 

sudden storm of sighs — 
All the spirit deeply dawning in the dark of 

hazel eyes — 



74 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

Saying, "I have hid my feelings, fearing they 

should do me wrong;" 
Saying, "Dost thou love me, cousin?" weeping, 

"I have loved thee long." 

Love took up the glass of Time, and turn'd it 

in his glowing hands; 
Every moment, lightly shaken, ran itself in 

golden sands. 

Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all 

the chords with might; 
Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, pass'd 

in music out of sight. 

Many a morning on the moorland did we hear 

the copses ring. 
And her whisper throng'd my pulses with the 

fullness of the spring. 

Many an evening by the waters did we watch the 

stately ships, 
And our spirits rush'd together at the touching 

of the lips. 

O my cousin, shallow -hearted ! O my Amy, 

mine no more! 
O the dreary, dreary moorland! O the barren, 

barren shore! 

Falser than all fancy fathoms, falser than all 

songs have sung. 
Puppet to a father's threat, and servile to a 

shrewish tongue! 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 75 

Is it well to wish thee happy? — having known 

me — to decline 
On a range of lower feelings and a narrower 

heart than mine! 

Yet it shall be; thou shalt lower to his level 

day by day, 
What is fine within thee growing coarse to 

sympathize with clay. 

As the husband is, the v/ife is; thou art mated 

with a clown, 
And the grossness of his nature will have weight 

to drag thee down. 

He will hold thee, when his passion shall have 

spent its novel force, 
Something better than his dog, a little dearer 

than his horse. 

What is this?. His eyes are heavy; think not 

they are glazed with wine. 
Go to him, it is thy duty; kiss him, take his 

hand in thine. 

It may be my lord is weary, that his brain is 

overwrought ; 
Soothe him with thy finer fancies, touch him 

with thy lighter thought. 

He will answer to the purpose, easy things to 

understand — 
Better thou wert dead before me, tho' I slew 

thee with my hand! 



y6 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

Better thou and I were lying, hidden from the 

heart's disgrace, 
Roll'd in one another's arms, and silent in a 

last embrace. 

Cursed be the social wants that sin against the 

strength of youth! 
Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the 

living truth! 



Nay, but Nature brings thee solace; for a tender 

voice will cry. 
'Tis a purer life than thine, a lip to drain thy 

trouble dry. 

Baby lips will laugh me down; my latest rival 

brings thee rest. 
Baby fingers, waxen touches, press me from 

the mother's breast. 

O, the child too clothes the father with a dear- 

ness not his due. 
Half is thine and half is his; it will be worthy 

of the two. 

O, I see thee old and formal, fitted to thy petty 

part, 
With a little hoard of maxims preaching down 

a daughter's heart. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS yy 

"They were dangerous guides the feelings — 

she herself was not exempt — 
Truly, she herself had suffer'd" — Perish in thy 

self -contempt ! 

Overlive it — lower yet — be happy! wherefore 

should I care? 
I myself must mix with action, lest I wither 

by despair. 



Howsoever these things be, a long farewell to 

Locksley Hall! 
Now for me the woods may wither, now for me 

the roof -tree fall. 

Comes a vapor from the margin, blackening 

over heath and holt. 
Cramming all the blast before it, in its breast 

a thunderbolt. 

Let it fall on Locksley Hall, with rain or hail, 

or fire or snow; 
For the mighty wind arises, roaring sea-ward, 

and I go. 



y8 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



PART II, IV 
I 

O that 'twere possible 

After long grief and pain 

To find the arms of my true love 

Round me once again ! 

II 

When I was wont to meet her 
In the silent woody places 
By the home that gave me birth, 
We stood tranced in long embraces 
Mixt with kisses sweeter, sweeter 
Than anything on earth. 

Ill 

A shadow flits before me. 

Not thou, but like to thee. 

Ah, Christ, that it were possible 

For one short hour to see 

The souls we loved that they might tell us 

What and where they be. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS jq 



THE LETTER 

Where is another sweet as my sweet, 
Fine of the fine, and shy of the shy? 

Fine Httle hands, fine Httle feet — 
Dewy blue eye. 

Shall I write to her ? shall I go ? 
Ask her to marry me by and by ? 

Somebody said that she'd say no; 
Somebody knows that she'll say ay! 

Ay or no, if ask'd to her face? 

Ay or no, from shy of the shy? 
Go, little letter, apace, apace, 

Fly; 
Fly to the light in the valley below — 

Tell my wish to her dewy blue eye. 
Somebody said that she'd say no; 

Somebody knows that she'll say ay! 



8o TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Frnm f seM 

Eyes not down-dropt nor over-bright, but fed 
With the clear-pointed flame of chastity, 
Clear, without heat, undying, tended by 
Pure vestal thoughts in the translucent fane 
Of her still spirit; locks not v/ide-dispread, 
Madonna-wise on either side her head ; 
Sweet lips whereon perpetually did reign 
The summer calm of golden charity, 
Were fixed shadows of thy fixed mood, 

Revered Isabel, the crown and head, 
The stately flower of female fortitude. 

Of perfect wifehood and pure lowlihead. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 8i 



Fr0m (^xtttn TOnrg 

ACT V, SCENE II 

Hapless doom of woman happy in betrothing! 
Beauty passes Hke a breath, and love is lost in 

loathing: 
Low, my lute; speak low, my lute, but say the 

world is nothing — 

Low, lute, low! 

Love will hover round the flowers when they 
first awaken; 

Love will fly the fallen leaf, and not be over- 
taken. 

Low, my lute! O, low, my lute! we fade and 
are forsaken — 

Low, dear lute, low! 



82 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



O sweet pale Margaret, 

O rare pale Margaret, 
What lit your eyes with tearful power, 
Like moonlight on a falling shower? 
Who lent you, love, your mortal dower 

Of pensive thought and aspect pale, 

Your melancholy sweet and frail 
As perfume of the cuckoo-flower? 
From the westward-winding flood, 
From the evening-lighted wood. 

From all things outward you have won 
A tearful grace, as tho' you stood 

Between the rainbow and the sun. 
The very smile before you speak, 
That dimples your transparent cheek, 

Encircles all the heart, and feedeth 
The senses with a still delight 

Of dainty sorrow without sound, 

Like the tender amber round 

Which the moon about her spreadeth. 
Moving thro' a fleecy night. 



TENNYSON'S L OVE SONGS 83 

O sweet pale Margaret, 

O rare pale Margaret, 
Come down, come down, and hear me speak. 
Tie up the ringlets on your cheek. 

The sun is just about to set, 
The arching limes are tall and shady, 

And faint, rainy Hghts are seen, 

Moving in the leavy beech. 
Rise from the feast of sorrow, lady. 

Where all day long you sit between 

Joy and woe, and whisper each. 
Or only look across the lawn, 

Look out below your bower-eaves. 
Look down, and let your blue eyes dawn 

Upon me thro' the jasmine-leaves. 




E. DE BLAAS 



'It is the miller s daughter. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 85 



It is the miller's daughter, 

And she is grown so dear, so dear, 
That I would be the jewel 

That trembles in her ear; 
For hid in ringlets day and night, 
I'd touch her neck so warm and white. 

And I would be the girdle 

About her dainty, dainty waist. 

And her heart would beat against me, 
In sorrow and in rest; 

And I should know if it beat right, 

I'd clasp it round so close and tight. 

And I would be the necklace. 

And all day long to fall and rise 

Upon her balmy bosom, 

With her laughter or her sighs; 

And I would lie so light, so light, 

I scarce should be unclasp 'd at night. 



86 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 

THE ARRIVAL 
I 

All precious things, disco ver'd late, 

To those that seek them issue forth; 
For love in sequel works with fate, 

And draws the veil from hidden worth. 
He travels far from other skies — 

His mantle glitters on the rocks — 
A fairy Prince, with joyful eyes, 

And lighter-footed than the fox. 

II 

The bodies and the bones of those 

That strove in other days to pass 
Are wither'd in the thorny close, 

Or scatter'd blanching on the grass. 
He gazes on the silent dead : 

"They perish 'd in their daring deeds." 
This proverb flashes thro' his head, 

"The many fail, the one succeeds." 

Ill 

He comes, scarce knowing what he seeks; 

He breaks the hedge; he enters there; 
The color flies into his cheeks; 

He trusts to light on something fair ; 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS Sy 

For all his life the charm did talk 
About his path, and hover near 

With words of promise in his walk, 
And whisper'd voices at his ear. 

IV 

More close and close his footsteps wind; 

The Magic Music in his heart. 
Beats quick and quicker, till he find 

The quiet chamber far apart. 
His spirit flutters like a lark, 

He stoops — to kiss her — on his knee. 
"Love, if thy tresses be so dark. 

How dark those hidden eyes must be!" 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



THE DEPARTURE 

I 

And on her lover's arm she leant, 

And round her waist she felt it fold, 
And far across the hills they went 

In that new world which is the old, 
Across the hills, and far away 

Beyond their utmost purple rim, 
And deep into the dying day 

The happy princess follow 'd him. 

II 

**rd sleep another hundred years, 

O love, for such another kiss;" 
"0, wake for ever, love," she hears, 

"O love, 'twas such as this and this." 
And o'er them many a sliding star, 

And many a merry wind was borne. 
And, stream'd thro' many a golden bar, 

The twilight melted into morn. 

Ill 

"O eyes long laid in happy sleep!" 
"O happy sleep, that lightly fled!" 

"O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep!" 
"O love, thy kiss would wake the dead!" 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 89 

And o'er them many a flowing range 
Of vapor buoy'd the crescent-bark, 

And, rapt thro' many a rosy change, 
The twihght died into the dark. 

IV 

**A hundred summers! can it be? 

And whither goest thou, tell me where?" 
"O, seek my father's court with me, 

For there are greater wonders there." 
And o'er the hills, and far away 

Beyond their utmost purple rim. 
Beyond the night, across the day, 

Thro' all the world she follow 'd him. 



go TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



f THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 

I 

Year after year unto her feet, 

She lying on her couch alone, 
Across the purple coverlet 

The maiden's jet-black hair has grown, 
On either side her tranced form 

Forth streaming from a braid of pearl; 
The slumbrous light is rich and warm, 

And moves not on the rounded curl. 

II 

The silk star-broider'd coverlid 

Unto her limbs itself doth mould 
Languidly ever; and, amid 

Her full black ringlets downward roU'd, 
Glows forth each softly-shadow'd arm 

With bracelets of the diamond bright. 
Her constant beauty doth inform 

Stillness with love, and day with light. 

Ill 

She sleeps; her breathings are not heard 

In palace chambers far apart. 
The fragrant tresses are not stirr'd 

That lie upon her charmed heart. 
She sleeps; on either hand upswells 

The gold-fringed pillow Hghtly prest; 
She sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells 

A perfect form in perfect rest. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS gi 



THE REVIVAL 
I 

A touch, a kiss ! the charm was snapt. 

There rose a noise of striking clocks, 
And feet that ran, and doors that clapt, 

And barking dogs, and crowing cocks: 
A fuller light illumined all, 

A breeze thro' all the garden swept, 
A sudden hubbub shook the hall. 

And sixty feet the fountain leapt. 



g2 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



From MglTs nf \\[t %ing 

THE SONG OF LOVE AND DEATH 

"Sweet is true love tho' given in vain, in vain; 
And sweet is death who puts an end to pain. 
I know not which is sweeter, no, not I. 

* Love, art thou sweet? then bitter death 
must be. 
Love, thou art bitter; sweet is death to me. 

Love, if death be sweeter, let me die. 

"Sweet love, that seems not made to fade 
away; 
Sweet death, that seems to make us loveless clay; 

1 know not which is sweeter, no, not L 

"I fain would follow love, if that could be; 
I needs must follow death, who calls for me; 
Call and I follow, I follow! let me die." 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS ^^ 



SONG FROM "THE LAST TOURNAMENT" 

"Ay, ay, O, ay — the winds that bend the brier! 
A star in heaven, a star within the mere! 
Ay, ay, O, ay — a star was my desire, 
And one was far apart, and one was near. 
Ay, ay, O, ay — the winds that bow the grass ! 
And one was water and one star was fire, 
And one will ever shine and one will pass. 
Ay, ay, O, ay — the winds that move the 
mere!" 



g4 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



WHEN 

Sun comes, moon comes, 

Time slips away. 
Sun sets, moon sets, 

Love, fix a day. 

"A year hence, a year hence.'* 
"We shall both be gray." 

"A month hence, a month hence.'* 
"Far, far away." 

"A week hence, a week hence.'* 

"Ah, the long delay!" 
"Wait a little, wait a little, 

You shall fix a day." 

"To-morrow, love, to-morrow. 
And that's an age away." 

Blaze upon her window, sun, 
And honor all the day. 



TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS pj 



Front TItb ^Xiininm 

AY 

Be merry, all birds, to-day, 

Be merry on earth as you never were merry 
before, 
Be merry in heaven, O larks, and far awa3^ 
And merry for ever and ever, and one day 
more. 

Why? 
For it's easy to find a rhyme. 
Look, look, how he flits. 

The fire -crown 'd king of the wrens, from out 
of the pine! 
Look how they tumble the blossom, the mad 
little tits! 
"Cuck-oo! Cuck-oo!" was ever a May so fine? 

Why? 
For it's easy to find a rhyme. 
O merry the linnet and dove, 

And swallow and sparrow and throstle, and 
have your desire! 
O merry my heart, you have gotten the wings 
of love, 
And flit like the king of the wrens with a 
crown of fire. 

Why? 
For its ay ay, ay ay. 



g6 TENNYSON'S LOVE SONGS 



Frnm SriglTs nf iht ?(ing 

"trust me not at all or all in all" 

"In Love, if Love be Love, if Love be ours. 
Faith and unfaith can ne'er be equal powers. 
Un faith in aught is want of faith in all. 

"It is the little rift within the lute. 
That by and by will make the music mute. 
And ever widening slowly silence all. 

"The little rift within the lover's lute. 
Or little pitted speck in garner'd fruit, 
That rotting inward slowly moulders all. 

"It is not worth the keeping; let it go: 
But shall it? answer, darling, answer, no. 
And trust me not at all or all in all." 



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